Mal Renu Ron Pudanne

When the flowers offer their pollen, they tell no one else about it,
in secret they hand it over; only God ever knows

God the Lord, with no stinginess at all, freely gives what he gives away
for everything received since the day of our birth, we are forever in his debt
so let us at least give the little we are able to give, and please him with it
thanks be, glory be, praise be, Hallelujah

When the flowers offer their pollen………..

The cool wind that blows across the body, what is it trying to say?
the rain and dew fall, and the earth awakens, do you not see it, people?
making no difference between the good and the wicked, he gives to them all
thanks be, glory be, praise be, Hallelujah

This is a hymn of gratitude that learns its lessons from the quiet generosity of nature. Its opening image is delicate and wise: “when the flowers offer their pollen, they tell no one else about it, in secret they hand it over; only God ever knows.” A flower gives its pollen without announcement or reward, and the song holds that up as a picture of pure, humble giving, the kind that seeks no credit and is seen only by God.

From that image it turns to God’s own giving, which is the source of all others. “God the Lord, with no stinginess at all, freely gives what he gives away,” and the honest response is to recognize how much we owe: “for everything received since the day of our birth, we are forever in his debt.” We are on the receiving end of a generosity we can never repay, so the most we can do is “give the little we are able to give,” and even that, the song says, pleases God. The refrain overflows into praise, “thanks be, glory be, praise be, Hallelujah.”

The final verse asks us to read the whole natural world as a message. “The cool wind that blows across the body, what is it trying to say? The rain and dew fall, and the earth awakens, do you not see it, people?” And it names the most striking thing about God’s giving, its impartiality, echoing Jesus’ words that God “sends rain on the just and the unjust”: “making no difference between the good and the wicked, he gives to them all.” What the listener is left with is a call to grateful, unshowy generosity, modelled on flowers that give in secret and on a God who pours out wind, rain and life freely on everyone alike, deserving or not, and who asks only that we give our small share and praise him.